The day before Christmas
by Welpie
Summary: Takane did not always show him, but Haruka knew she cared. She hadn't forgotten his birthday once. Hey, why was he crying? Happy belated birthday Haruka and Konoha! Rated K-plus 'cause of Takane.


**Hello, KagePro fandom, enjoy my first fanfiction in this archive. (I didn't plan this to be my first fic here, oh well. )**

**And the day **_**after**_** Christmas I publish this. I guess it's because I kept editing and adding stuff. I hope the characters aren't OOC. Especially in the second half. Feel free to correct me if you spot any mistakes.  
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**It was so tempting to jump out of Haruka's POV, but I managed. I also wasn't sure whether or not I should add the romance tag...friendship it is...  
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**Happy belated birthday Haruka and Konoha! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own KagePro, because the soda god said so.  
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><p>Haruka was walking faster than usual. Left, right, left right. Brisk steps in tempo. Or had it been right, left?<p>

He was late. His parents had given him a big cake for his birthday. His presents at home were unopened, because eating the cake took longer than expected.

Haruka smiled at the memory. His parents had been so worried about him coming too late to school. He politely refused to be brought with the car. They had packed his schoolbag and lunch for him instead. He briefly wondered what his lunch was going to be.

The black-haired male clutched his schoolbag. He felt the shape of his sketchbook. It had a permanent spot in his bag. He'd die without his sketchbook! Especially around Takane inspiration could pop up anytime!

Speaking, no thinking, of Takane: did she remember his birthday?

It would be nice if she did, but he knew she was busy at home. Being a professional at the game Dead Bullet wasn't easy. The bags under her eyes were evidence of that. As long as he got to see her it was alright.

He stopped to a halt and walked around the fountain on the school grounds. Not this time! No wet costume on his birthday. He didn't want to catch a cold. His parents, mister Tateyama and Takane would worry and he would feel useless. If only his body was stronger.

The black-haired boy pushed the door of the school open. He only had to conquer the hall and he was there. He hoped he didn't miss too much. He wanted to see them though!

He was there! He opened the door of the classroom and plastered a bright smile on his face. "Good morn-"

"Happy birthday!" two pair of voices rang through the classroom.

The teacher placed a red fluffy object on Haruka's head immediately. Haruka blinked and processed what just happened. He noticed it was a Christmas hat.

"Kokonose, you love Christmas so much, don't you?" mister Tateyama said with a grin on his face. He gestured towards the black-haired girl next to him. "Just as much as you love this one here. Let's combine that with your birthday we thought!"

Takane raised the package in her arms to presumably hit the teacher. She hovered it in the air for a few seconds. Looking between the package and the man, she sighed. The girl frowned and lowered the package.

"Next time, you will regret this _Tateyama_," she growled.

"But mister Tateyama is right, Takane. " For some reason she turned bright red. Was she sick? "I love Christmas and my friends!"

"That's so sweet of you, Kokonose. Better luck next time, Enomoto." He patted the back of the black-haired girl. The teacher re-arranged his own Christmas hat and stepped away from the girl. He narrowly avoided a punch from her.

Haruka took this moment to take a look around the classroom. The usual lights in the room were off and instead a long string with Christmas lights was attached to the walls. In the back of the room stood a decorated Christmas tree. On the desk of the teacher stood the stable of Joseph and Mary; including small figurines. (Haruka thought the donkey so cute) On Takane's desk stood a snowman. On his own desk was a reindeer. The red nose revealed it was Rudolf. Even the anatomic model in the corner of the room was wearing a Christmas hat.

The effort the two before him had put into the decorating was clearly visible.

Haruka felt tears welling up in his eyes. Did he even deserve this; wasn't he a burden to them?

"Thank you so much!" he cried out. The tears kept falling from his eyes. He couldn't stop it.

"Don't cry, you idiot!" Takane shrieked. She looked away and pushed the package in his arms. Haruka smiled and wiped his tears with his free hand. "Unwrap!" she commanded in response to this gesture.

The black-haired boy began to unwrap the package. He scraped the tape off the wrapping in order to keep the wrapping as undamaged as possible. The pattern on the wrapping was pretty with the little Christmas trees on it.

"Oooh! Wow!" he exclaimed when he saw the present.

It was a dinosaur plushie. To be specific it was a triceratops. The green colour of the plushie matched the vest of his school uniform.

"Enomoto's the one who remembered your birthday and bought this!" mister Tateyama exclaimed. The bells on his Christmas hat rang, because of his movement. For some reason he pushed his two students together.

The tears threatened to spill out again. "Thank you so much! Takane's amazing for remembering my birthday!" Haruka held the plushie tight.

She folded her arms which caused the bell on her Christmas hat to ring. Her brown eyes locked with his, but darted away after the moment passed. "N-no problem. Y-you told me yourself! No big deal," she said matter-of-factly with a rising voice as her sentence continued.

When did he tell her?

Haruka searched his memories quickly and he remembered. He had told her when they first met. He had been pretty talkative, hadn't he?

Haruka flashed the girl a smile. The following flush on her cheeks was adorable in his opinion.

"Triceratops wants a hug from Takane!" He moved the dinosaur towards her neck and placed the head there. He moved it slightly sideways, from left to right.

"Stop i- you idi- , it tickles!" she cried out and set a step away from him. He set a step towards her with his outstretched arms. They repeated the process of backing off and coming closer several times until she ended up against the wall.

"Caught you!" the boy exclaimed with the plush bobbing its head like it had said that. "Hug!"

The black-haired boy enveloped his arms around her. He held the plushie against her back. (Poor plushie, it wanted to nuzzle her neck.) He felt her tense for a moment. With a grumble that sounded like "Only 'cause it's your birthday." she gave in and hugged back. The smile on his face widened even more.

Haruka would never be able to forget these moments with her.

Never!

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><p>Never.<p>

He could never remember. The large gaping hole in his memory was unsettling to say the least. Everything before august 15th was a large blur. The boy didn't remember how long the gap had been there.

He stared at the thing before him. The professor, whose name he forgot, had told him to no touch the 'computer'. Oh, so this was the 'computer'. Maybe. The professor never said anything about the weird round thing with another round thing on it. Konoha could spin the one round thing on top and click with it. It was strange, but it felt familiar somehow.

The white-haired boy played around with it by moving it. The arrow on the screen moved when he moved the weird thing. He moved the arrow to the bottom right and blinked in response. The date popped up for a moment.

"December 24th," Konoha read out loud. The words had rolled out of his mouth so naturally.

His hands clutched his head. It happened so fast. He felt like someone stabbed his head with something sharp. (Worse than a 'tube' falling on his head by mistake, which didn't hurt that much though.) His body wasn't supposed to feel 'pain'. Professor said so.

Why did it hurt so much?

"Soda addicted dude with a red jacket here?" he heard a voice mumble while he fought against the pain. "Hmmm, nope! Time to go to the next comput-"

Konoha lowered his arms and opened his eyes. He lowered his gaze to the 'computer'. Pink eyes locked with blue eyes. A blue-haired 'cyber' girl looked at him from the 'computer'.

Something inside him was screaming, crying and smiling as a reaction to the girl. Konoha did not know who or what it was.

"H-hey there," there was a pause from the girl; she wavered. "Are you okay?"

_"Don't stare if someone asks you a question. Answer! You scared away the third package deliverer today!" The professor had moved his arms everywhere when he scolded the albino._

"I'm okay," he answered with his usual monotone voice after a short pause. No, it hadn't been completely monotone. Even he noticed the soft hoarseness in his voice. It was unnerving. Curiosity wanted him to find out how it was possible, but he wasn't able to take his eyes off the girl.

A blood-curling scream, agony, the feeling of forcefully getting ripped out of your body and longing. A pain worse than the endless loops of being helpless while a boy and a girl were murdered over and over again before his eyes.

_"I want to see you again, Takane! _

Emotions, so many emotions. Emotions that weren't his, or at least he didn't recognize them, and mental wounds opened he did not know he had.

Why did her bright blue eyes trigger these new emotions? How…?

"I know something!" she chirped and flailed with her arms. She moved closer to him and touched the screen. "A song will make you feel better!"

A song? He remembered people on the television singing songs about something called 'love' and 'Christmas'. He liked the Christmas songs the most. They were so happy.

The girl fidgeted with her blue jacket and steadied herself. She looked like one of those heroes on the 'television'; ready to take on the challenge. She took a deep breath and her cheeks seemed a bit red. Was she sick? She took so long.

A loud song flared through the speakers. Konoha didn't expect this song to ever be sung to him.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you!"

Birthday….

A drop of water fell on his knees. Another. And another. And another. Was it raining inside?

No, it were tears. His vision was blurry too.

Why was he crying?

"H-hey, don't cry!" he heard the girl screech. "You okay, friend?" She was worrying about him?

"Are we friends?"

The question automatically flew out his mouth. He couldn't stop it. It was just that friends on 'television' sang birthday songs too and hearing her call him that made him happy.

"Yeah, why not?" she responded. Konoha could make out her figure coming closer and closer to the screen. "Don't cry now! Let's be friends! My name's Ene!"

A friend. He made a friend. He really wanted to have a friend. Finally…

"Thank you, Ene. I'm Konoha" A smile made his way on his face. The pain in his chest became less. Konoha felt happy. He wiped his tears away with his sleeves.

Her eyes widened for a moment, but he thought he had imagined it. "You're welcome, Konoha!" she replied. She floated around the screen and seemed to notice something. Konoha followed her gaze. She was looking at the time.

"I have to go now, but I'll see you later!" She waved with a smile on her face. Dots on the screen surrounded her and she was gone as fast as she appeared.

"Bye," he mumbled while staring at the screen.

When would he ever see her again?

He tried to engrave this in his memory. He didn't want this memory to end up disappearing in the gaping hole.

He never wanted to forget this.

Never.


End file.
